Playing by the Rules cover art

Playing by the Rules

Miami Piranhas, Book 3

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Playing by the Rules

By: Beth Bolden
Narrated by: Darcy Stark
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Ex-quarterback Davis Abernathy knows he’s on his last chance.

If he strikes out as Paxton Kelly’s coach, nobody else is going to call him. Not to get back on the field, and not to stand on the sidelines.

He’s got a lot to teach Pax, and as a second-year quarterback, Pax has a lot to learn. But Davis doesn’t anticipate the irresistible way they’ll be drawn together from their first meeting. He never could have predicted such a fierce and uncontrollable yearning—or that Pax would feel the same.

It should be easy to remember rules aren’t meant to be broken, and certain lines aren’t meant to be crossed, but the only thing that’s easy is falling totally, completely in love with Pax.

As Davis falls harder, Pax succeeding becomes just as important—and maybe more so—than resurrecting his own career. If he messes this up, his last chance isn’t all he’ll be sacrificing.

What he should be is focused on being the perfect mentor. But what he wants is Pax in his bed, Pax in his life, and more impossibly, to win Pax’s heart forever.

©2022 Beth Bolden (P)2023 Beth Bolden Literature & Fiction Romance Heartfelt Sports

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Playing for Keeps cover art
Game Plan cover art
Road Rules cover art
The Rivalry cover art
Terrible Things cover art
Luca cover art
Bully & Exit cover art
Team Hate (An Enemies to Lovers Standalone Romance) cover art
Nice Catching You cover art
Confetti Hearts cover art
Rebound cover art
Out in the Cold cover art
Quiet Strength cover art
Kiss and Tell cover art
Crow's Fate cover art
How to Catch a Bookworm cover art
All stars
Most relevant

Listener received this title free

Two built quarterbacks pinning for days…Hell yes. Instant attraction and being off limits. Delicious.

Paxton Kelly is the new superstar quarterback, but he’s struggling at this level. Their head coach has an idea on how to fix it. Bring in disgraced ex-quarterback Davis Abernathy to coach him.

Davis’s previous team treated him horribly, making him question himself and the one thing he loves the most. He had no prospects in Football until coach Asa gave him a lifeline. It’s not playing but at least he feels useful.

The biggest complication is their feelings for one another. They know they can’t, coach and player, but damn, their feelings are overpowering.

They are both struggling to find their place in their careers and in each other's hearts, but thankfully they are surrounded by an amazing team of men who support and care about them.

Their love for each other is pure and beautiful. Both grand (see Pax’s gesture when playing Davis’ old team) and small (think Davis cooking his grandmother’s recipes).

Beth’s wonderful writing is brought to life by the super-talented Darcy Stark. You’ll get it all with this pairing.

So much pinning

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

3,5 stars
I was very surprised and glad about the main characters keeping their feelings in check for the benefit of the other’s career. They care for each other so they don’t act on their feelings. Beautiful. Awesome. But then, the second part is full of bed action in a row. Fortunately it changed a bit later and then the story continued.
I love Asa, I’m really looking forward to his story.
The audiobook version has a very good narrator, I like him a lot, I’m not sure about Señora Floria’s accent though. By the way, it should have been written “señora” not “senora”, if your keyboard doesn’t have “ñ” copy and paste it from the internet.

«You keep lookin’ at me like that, I’m gonna have to do something about it».

Yearning

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

The heart wants what the heart wants – you can't always pick who you fall in love with. This can certainly be applied to quarterback coach Davis Abernathy and quarterback Paxton Kelly. There's an instant connection between the two when they first meet but they truly do try to fight it.

I loved how Paxton's teammates rallied around these two and encouraged them to explore their relationship even though they all knew that it was against the rules for a coach and player to become involved. The feelings these two have for each other resonated through the wonderful audio performance given by Darcy Stark.

This story truly stirred my emotions and I loved listening to it. There was a bonus at the end: the prologue for the next book in the series which is about coach Asa and I can't wait to listen to it.

A complimentary copy of this audiobook was provided to me at my request; my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author and/or narrator.

Forbidden love.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

I've yet to find a Beth Bolden football romance that I don't love, and she's delivered a spectacular, swoony story for Davis and Pax. There were so many elements that made this story great--the slow-burn romance, the themes of acceptance and redemption, and the exciting football growth of the Piranhas--but what really made this story a stand-out were the characters. I connected with Davis and Pax early on, and it was such a delight to watch their relationship unfold from the very beginning. They put up a valiant fight to resist the pull they had towards each other, but it became obvious over time that their attraction had grown into deep, unconditional love. I was blown away by how deep and emotionally moving their journey was, and their story certainly put me through the wringer at times as the two of them tried to figure out how to navigate their professional relationship when they craved something personal and intimate as well. I definitely had moments where I didn't see a romantic path forward for the two of them, and I felt their growing tension from having to hold back in every interaction they shared. The dating intervention and swoony love confession midway through the story were a big emotional turning point, and from then on I was much less worried about will-they-won't-they and simply enjoying the progression of Pax and Davis's romance. In addition to their love journey, both Pax and Davis had moving character arcs that intertwined with the other events of the story. Davis alone went through such a transformation, and I was very satisfied with how he healed and moved on from the awful situation with the Condors. Pax also matured a lot throughout the course of the story, and it was very uplifting to see him become a strong leader for the team. All in all, I can't think of a single thing I would change about this story, except for getting more and more and more of their happy lives together.

**I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this book. This review expresses my honest thoughts and opinions.

Spectacular and swoony

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

Playing by the Rules is the third book in the Miami Piranhas series. As there have already been small glimpses of the characters in the previous books, I recommend reading the series in order.
This time it's about Paxton Kelly, a quarterback who looks back on a not-so-good year in the NFL, even though he was a star in college.
Asa Dawson realizes what Paxton is missing and hires Davis Abernathy to coach him. Davis was a respected quarterback until there were some bad decisions by his former team that he still suffers from.
When Pax and Davis meet for the first time, sparks fly and the chemistry is clear. But they both want to be professional and fight against it, even though they are on fire for each other.
But will they manage to play a good game and keep their emotions under control at the same time? And then there are their teammates, who notice some of their strange behavior.
I really like Beth Bolden's series and this volume is my favorite so far! The writing style is wonderful and once immersed in the story of Pax and Davis, it's hard to put the audiobook down. I also really liked the secondary characters. The story is emotional and touching and quickly captivated me.

Darcy Stark did a fantastic job narrating the audiobook with all the emotions. I always knew which character was speaking and he read the story at a comfortable pace.
I'm already looking forward to the next volume in the series, because I'm very excited about Asa's story!

My Favorite of the Series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews